London retains Global Sports City title for 2016 while Budapest, Helsinki, Innsbruck, Baku and Minsk are the big movers

Tuesday 08 November 2016

London has been awarded the title of top Global Sports City in the Sportcal Global Sports Cities Index for the fifth consecutive year.

The Global Sports Cities Index 2016 was revealed during the Global Sports Tourism Summit at the World Travel Market in London on Monday.

London has hosted, or is set to host, 13 world championships and multi-sports games over the analysed period (2010-2023). Only Moscow (16) and Paris (14, and a 2024 Olympic Games candidate city) will host more events during this period. However, these do not score as highly as the events taking place in London.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “London has rightly retained the title of sporting capital of the world following a great year hosting NFL at Wembley and Twickenham, Andy Murray's great win at Wimbledon and‎ the European Aquatics Championships at the London Aquatic Centre, to name but a few. The Global Sports Cities Index confirms that London is open to the world for staging spectacular events."

London was placed first ahead of this year’s Olympic Games host Rio de Janeiro while the host of the 2020 edition, Tokyo, moves above Moscow into third place and Doha moves above Paris into fifth.

Budapest, Hungary’s capital and another 2024 Olympic Games candidate city, is the biggest mover inside the top 10, climbing five places in to seventh in the Index.

Los Angeles, the third of the 2024 Olympics candidate cities, is in 34th place, while Rome, which withdrew its bid for the games earlier this year, is 42nd. Copenhagen falls to eighth position while Beijing holds its place in ninth followed by Kazan in 10th.

Top 20 Global Sports Cities 2010-2023

Rank

+/-

City

Events

Total

1

=

London, GBR

13

19,549

2

=

Rio de Janeiro, BRA

7

18,240

3

+1

Tokyo, JPN

13

17,808

4

-1

Moscow, RUS

16

15,013

5

+1

Doha, QAT

9

12,202

6

-1

Paris, FRA

14

12,114

7

+5

Budapest, HUN

10

9,238

8

-1

Copenhagen, DEN

8

7,594

9

=

Beijing, CHN

7

7,135

10

-2

Kazan, RUS

5

6,991

11

-1

Sochi, RUS

7

6,723

12

+5

Helsinki, FIN

8

6,168

13

-2

Rotterdam, NED

7

5,813

14

=

Glasgow, GBR

5

5,658

15

-2

Auckland, NZL

6

5,544

16

+31

Innsbruck, AUT

7

5,389

17

+9

Baku, AZE

5

5,283

18

=

Gold Coast, AUS

3

4,646

19

+32

Minsk, BLR

3

4,643

20

=

Pyeongchang, KOR

3

4,613

With more data than ever before available on the Sportcal Events platform, the Global Sports Cities Index is calculated over a 14-year period, covering seven years in the past and seven years in the future (2010-2023).

Helsinki (12th), Innsbruck (16th), Baku (17th) and Minsk (19th) all climb the Index, with Innsbruck and Minsk moving furthest by 31 and 32 positions, respectively. Auckland, Kazan and Rotterdam are the three significant fallers within the top 20.

Past & Future Sports City

Rio de Janeiro heads the Past Sports Cities Index, rising 17 places in the process. However, the Brazilian city ranks only 150th in the Future Sports Cities Index, highlighting its lack of an events-hosting legacy in the wake of this summer’s Olympics. Tokyo, host of the 2018 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championships, 2019 Women’s World Handball Championships, 2019 World Judo Championships, 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games, becomes the leading Future Sports City in 2016, replacing Rio de Janeiro. In total, Tokyo will host seven world championships and multi-sport games between 2017 and 2023, based on events awarded to date.Budapest, Gold Coast, Innsbruck and Lausanne are the biggest movers within the Future Sports Cities top 10 while Moscow falls four positions to seventh.

Top 10 Past Sports Cities (2010-2016)

Top 10 Future Sports Cities (2017-2023)

Rank

+/-

City

Total

Rank

+/-

City

Total

1

+17

Rio de Janeiro, BRA

17,679

1

+1

Tokyo, JPN

12,564

2

-1

London, GBR

14,394

2

+5

Budapest, HUN

5,774

3

-1

Moscow, RUS

10,881

3

+1

Doha, QAT

5,653

4

-1

Paris, FRA

7,753

4

+1

London, GBR

5,155

5

+2

Doha, QAT

6,548

5

+3

Gold Coast, AUS

4,646

6

=

Kazan, RUS

5,422

6

=

Paris, FRA

4,362

7

-3

Tokyo, JPN

5,243

7

-4

Moscow, RUS

4,132

8

-3

Copenhagen, DEN

5,158

8

+2

Pyeongchang, KOR

3,808

9

+6

Vancouver, CAN

4,306

9

+10

Innsbruck, AUT

3,573

10

-2

Istanbul, TUR

4,299

10

+14

Lausanne, SUI

3,199

Over the analysis period (2010-2023), 610 cities have hosted, or will host, a world championships or multi-sports games out of all events awarded to date.The Index analysed 787 events across 146 categories in 75 sports.

The Past Sports City and Future Sports City Indices analyse the seven-year period up to and including 2016, and the next seven years, respectively.

Notes to Editors

The Global Sports Nations and Cities Index is a product of the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Project, one of the most extensive studies of sport, which has analysed over 2,000 events in a 17-year period. The GSI Project has developed a standard methodology for measuring the impact of major sporting events.

Sportcal recently published its annual Global Sports Impact Report (2016), which analyses the impact of 83 world championships and multi-sport games that took place in 2015 as well as analysing 60+ additional sports properties, including leagues, tours and series.

For further information on the indices, or the Global Sports Impact Project, contact the Global Sports Impact team at gsi@sportcal.com.

Methodology

The Global Sports Index is based on in-depth analysis of major multi-sport games and world championships over a rolling 14-year period, covering seven years in the past (including the current year) and seven years in the future.

The November 2016 index took in 787 events across 146 categories, in 75 sports, including summer and winter Olympic sports and Olympic ‘recognised’ sports.

Each event is given a weighting based on its Global Sports Impact (GSI) Rating, a rating calculated using the latest events data in a range of indicators, measuring the size, scale and impact of an event.

The Nations Index is then calculated from the number of events a nation has hosted and the GSI Rating of each of those events. A time weighting is given, so that events in the current year are worth 100 per cent of the rating value, while events in previous or future years are worth less.

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